# Need help with SATA hard drives and boot up after cloning. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-sata-hard-drives-and-boot-up-after-cloning/485661 "2009-02-13T08:35:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-sata-hard-drives-and-boot-up-after-cloning/485661/1 "2009-02-13T08:35:12Z")
I have several Western Digital WD1500AHFD - 00RAR5 hard drives. [The WD 1500](http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2879-001164.pdf) I have cloned and swapped then as “C” drives many times on my MSI mother board machine with XP-PRO. > [@](#): > > Operating System System Model > Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600) MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7387 1.0 > Enclosure Type: Desktop > Processor a Main Circuit Board b > 2.20 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo > 64 kilobyte primary memory cache > 2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD MS-7387 1.0 > Bus Clock: 200 megahertz > BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. V1.0 08/14/2007 > Drives Memory Modules c,d > 190.06 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity > 157.92 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space > > Optiarc DVD RW AD-7190A [CD-ROM drive] > 3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive] > > MAXTOR 6L040J2 [Hard drive] (40.02 GB) – drive 1 > WDC WD1500AHFD-00RAR5 [Hard drive] (150.04 GB) – drive 0 > 1920 Megabytes Installed Memory > > Slot ‘DIMM0’ has 1024 MB > Slot ‘DIMM1’ has 1024 MB > Local Drive Volumes > > c: (NTFS on drive 0) 150.03 GB 133.53 GB free > e: (NTFS on drive 1) 40.03 GB 24.39 GB free > Network Drives > None detected No I have also brand new WD740ADFD - 00NLR5 drives. [I bought this.](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033) I formatted and copied a few pictures and a page of text to it and I could open and see that. I then deleted those things and used the same cloning CD I always use (HD Clone Pro) and all went fine including the verification step. I install it as “C” or leave it as “F” and my system won’t boot. I get an "media cable disconnect \*\*\*\* " type error while BIOS is trying to run. Do I need to put a jumper on one or the other or both? The choices are: SSC\_SEL PM2 OPT1 OPT2 No jumpers came with the drives and I can’t find anything about it in the book on both my mother boards. I have tried on MSI – see above and also on my LINUX (Ubuntu 8.10) ASUS A8N-SLI Premium mother board in that machine. Tried to clone my Ubuntu which I have done before with IDE drives. These drives are SATA… Any help? What can be wrong? Are they not compatible with those mother boards? I be totally cornfussed… Help… ---
**Author:** ![Archeonomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Archeonomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archeonomist)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-sata-hard-drives-and-boot-up-after-cloning/485661/2 "2009-02-13T12:40:59Z")
Just a WAG here: I replaced all my IDE drives with SATA. When I boot up now, there is a warning message about no harddrive detected. It will boot up and run perfectly, though. So it seems the BIOS expects some IDE device there. Maybe yours simply won’t boot without an IDE drive present? Do you have the latest BIOS? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-sata-hard-drives-and-boot-up-after-cloning/485661/3 "2009-02-13T12:53:31Z")
You didn’t actually give the MB model anywhere that I can see. I haven’t been able to afford a hard drive since SATA came out, so I can only tell you this. Some of the older SATA controllers have compatibility problems with the newer SATA drives. Also maybe the BIOS isn’t set up correctly to boot from the SATA or boot from SATA isn’t even an available option in your BIOS. Did you open the BIOS and set it to boot from the SATA drive? I can’t help you about jumpers. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-sata-hard-drives-and-boot-up-after-cloning/485661/4 "2009-02-13T16:07:55Z")
I would guess that because the drive is a different size you are going to have to _Install_ Windows on it, not just clone from the other one. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-sata-hard-drives-and-boot-up-after-cloning/485661/5 "2009-02-13T19:26:50Z")
Made sure boot up was correct in BIOS. Had worked before on 150 GIG SATA drives. Just these 74 GIG ones giving me trouble. Has to be something simple… I just did a fast format and saved stuff to it and then opened them. Worked fine. Hope I don’t have to do an install before I can clone it… Gonna try some more stuff. Keep ideas coming… Thanks